Blog Entry # 4

This week for Lesson 13, we learned about Eastern Europe & Russia and the collective shared culture. One of the things that was pointed out in the lesson was how genetics contribute to Russia & Eastern Europe having a similar culture and political ideals. Specifically, “social psychology research indicates that people are not only more likely to find people like themselves more attractive but also more likely to help them as well (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2010). I believe most of us can see some truth to this as it probably accounts for most of our unconscious bias.

However, Russia/Eastern Europe or the term Eastern European brings up a very specific image for most of us. If you google “Eastern European person” you will get back search results for ethnically Caucasian people. Russia has over 190 ethnic groups (Kazak, & RBTH, 2010). Many are ethnically Asian, so the question is, how do they fit into the Eastern European equation? When we speak on the genetic link between Eastern Europeans, personality, & culture, are we to assume that Eastern Europeans with non Caucasian backgrounds will naturally exhibit a different personality outside of Eastern European culture based on genetics? If this is what is described based on E.O Wilson’s definition of socio-biology (Pennsylvania State University WC, 2021), then it makes things a bit murky.

Given everything we have learned so far about Global Leadership, I wonder then how exactly we would strategize stakeholdering a partnership where our business partner is nationally Eastern European or Russian but not “genetically” either. We know we should prioritize company culture, but that is also affected by outside culture as well. Should we build our partnership based firstly on the customs of Eastern European culture or should we assume that if they ethnically match another culture that the universals of that culture would hold true for them as well? I’m sure the answer is simple and more nuanced than demonstrated in the lesson, but it does give one a lot to think about.

 

Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., & Akert, R.M. (2010). Social psychology. New York: Prentice Hall.

OLEAD 410: Lesson 13 : Genetics & Social Psychology. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20th, 2021, from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2146712/modules/items/32847720

Aizhan Kazak, R. B. T. H. (2017, November 30). Why do some Russians look Asian? Russia Beyond. Retrieved November 21, 2021, from https://www.rbth.com/politics_and_society/2017/05/10/why-some-russians-look-asian-759856